HOSPITAL bosses have aplogised after an 87-year-old man suffering a suspected blood clot was left waiting for nearly three hours on a trolley in a corridor at the Accident and Emergency unit.

The pensioner’s family were so dismayed by his experience they brought it to the attention of Birkenhead MP Frank Field.

Mr Field immediately took up the case with hospital trust chief executive David Allison, demanding answers and assurances that everything possible is being done to prevent any repeat.

Now the trust has launched a pilot project in which it has employed a paramedic with Arrowe Park Hospital’s A&E to assess patients arriving by ambulance so they can be sent “to the most appropriate area within the department.”

Mr Field said: “I was pleased with the response and I have conveyed the trust’s apologies to the family.

“It was clearly unacceptable for this gentleman to be kept waiting for such a long time. The other issue is that while he was on the trolley, ambulance staff waited with him meaning they could not attend other call-outs.

“Furthermore there were other people waiting on trolleys for an even longer period, demonstrating that this was not an isolated incident.”

In his reply to the MP, Mr Allison said: “Please accept my sincere apologies for the difficulties experienced.

“Unfortunately at the time the Emergency Department was extremely busy which resulted in a two-hour and 12-minute wait until he could be transferred into a cubicle with the department.”

The chief went on to explain that additional staff were deployed to A&E to help cope with the demand - 318 patients were seen during a 24-hour period and of these 100 arrived by ambulance.

The pressure on A&E was such that Arrowe Park’s “Full Capacity Policy” was triggered “to maintain safety and improve patient flow throughout the wider hospital.”